"Like a box of petit fours -- you can\'t have just one!"
I'm not a huge fan of anthologies, because the stories are
often too short for my taste and there's no uniformity in
quality. Generally I'll love one story and be lukewarm
about the rest. SINFUL was an exception, an anthology
centered around a piece of lingerie and the role it plays
in bringing two lovers together. All the tales are
uniformly well-written and sexy, but each maintains the
author's unique voice and style. Suzanne Forster is one of my favorites, and "Unbuttoning
Emmalina" doesn't disappoint. Jeff Weston, deal maker
extraordinaire, bets an old friend and rival that he can
get Emmalina Price out of her house, the only piece of
property he lacks for a multi-million dollar project. He'd
like to talk her out of her Victorian bloomers too, but
Emmalina Price is the Immovable Object. She loves the old
Victorian home that houses her shop, and prefers the
gentility of the nineteenth century to the frantic pace of
the twenty-first. Jeff finds a loophole that will gain the
land and win the bet -- but he may have lost his heart to a
prim and lovely lady. Can an Irresistible Force move an
Immovable Object? Forster answers this with a
resounding "YES". Her hero and heroine are endearing, her
dialogue witty, and even the minor characters in this gem
are memorable. "Tangled Images" by Lori Foster centers around male
lingerie and Mack Winston, the unwilling model for his
sister-in-law's lingerie catalog. His attitude changes when
he learns that the photographer is the older woman and
single mom he fantasized about in college, but who
pointedly ignored him. Jessica had written him off as a
frat rat interested only in a good time, but while she
snaps pix of him in underwear, she comes to realize that
Mack is more than just a pretty face or a great pair of
buns. Boxes or briefs? Neither! A sweetly romantic tale
based in the character's vulnerabilities -- Jessica afraid
to love again after a disastrous early marriage, Mack
desperate to grab this second chance. This one will linger
fondly in your memory. Kimberley Randall's "Sinderella" is the name of a
scandalously slinky lingerie line, epitomized by the
sensuous and masked Fantasy Girl featured in their ads.
Practical construction boss Frankie Brannigan, inspired by
her brother's engagement, dons the mask and an almost-there
black teddy to make a play for the man she'd always wanted,
Connor, before it's too late and he too settles down.
Carried off from the Valentine's masquerade and engagement
party by the man of her dreams, she has a glorious night of
sex -- still wearing the lacy mask, which somehow gets left
behind when she flees in the morning. But she has to get
that mask to the shop before the salesgirl (who lent it to
her without her boss' knowledge) loses her job. Connor
meanwhile is wondering just who was that Masked Woman --
and how can he get her back? This is a delightful comedy,
and I really loved the bit with the cantankerous chihuahua. "Leather and Lace" by Maggie Shayne is another tale about
an unwilling lingerie model, this one female and unemployed
and in desperate need of money after losing her job to a
bimbo her hottie bachelor boss wanted to make time with (or
so she believes). But a misstep on the runway launches near-
sighted Martha Jane right into the lap of that ex-boss,
and he carries her off for magical Valentine's night. The
new lingerie line is a hit, and so is Martha Jane, because
Richard desperately wants a second date with luscious
masked model -- only to realize that he recognizes the
handwriting on the note she left him. Like Benedict in Much
Ado About Nothing, he realizes that he's been missing out a
lot by clinging grimly to bachelorhood, and he sets out to
win his Valentine. A satisfying collection of stories, Sinful is like a box of
petit fours -- you can't have just one! Sensuality Guide: steamy monogamous sex; romantic but not
erotica Reviewed by Gillian Fitzgerald
Posted February 7, 2002
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted November 12, 2006
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Let love go wild - with a little slip of lingerie...
Surrender to your fantasies. Submit to the pleasures of cool satin caressing warm flesh. Succumb to the arousing touch of lace, exposing every private need. Yield to the tender strokes and wicked ways of a secret lover. Thrill to the luxury of absolute abandon. Now, in these four scintillating bedtime stories, four acclaimed authors invite you to drop every inhibition, fulfill every appetite, and indulge in the silken desires of your wildest and most sinful dreams. Sinful: Unbuttoning Emmalina / Tangled Images / Sinderella / Leather and Lace
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